This invention relates to a tilt mechanism for marine propulsion devices and more particularly to an improved tilt and trim unit for an outboard drive.
Many types of outboard drives, particularly the ones associated with higher horsepower units, employ hydraulic tilt and trim arrangements for tilting the outboard drive up out of the water when not in use and also for adjusting the trim position of the outboard drive. Both of these movements occur about a generally horizontally extending tilt axis. In many of the previously proposed systems of this type, the trim adjustment has been achieved by one or more hydraulic cylinders that are operative to engage the outboard drive for moving it through a plurality of trim adjusted positions from a normal trim condition to shallow water trim conditions. In addition, a tilt cylinder assembly is also interposed between the hull of the watercraft and the outboard drive for tilting the outboard drive up to its tilted up position. Such arrangements normally employ a single hydraulic control circuit and pump mechanism that supplies hydraulic fluid to the trim and tilt cylinders in a parallel flow arrangement. As a result, in order to tilt the outboard drive up to its tilted up position, it is necessary for the trim cylinders to be moved to their fully extended positions prior to the effective operation of the tilt cylinder. Such arrangements not only take longer to tilt the outboard drive up, but require readjustment of the trim position when the outboard drive is tilted back down to a running condition.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved tilt and trim unit for an outboard drive.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved tilt and trim unit for an outboard drive wherein the outboard drive may be tilted up without altering the trim position set for the drive.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a tilt and trim arrangement for an outboard drive embodying separate tilt and trim cylinders and wherein the tilt cylinder may be employed to tilt up the motor without actuation of the trim cylinders.